As for me Artland should be more clear favorite in this game. Because Artland is a basketball town and at home this team is unbeatable. Maybe I am wrong about Lukoil Akademic but in my opinion they are still one of the most overpriced teams in ULEB Cup. Artland coach said that his team is looking for revenge and in my opinion they have all to get this revenge: roster, home court, fun support and opponents motivation.

Lukoil still miss 2 important players Chanak and D.Smith, but they already signed another american O'bannon. Game in Artland will be first for him because he can't play in domestic league and his contract was signed only for one month. This game can be a new player lookout by coaches and testing some new schemes. Theoretically Lukoil needs only 2 wins to qualify into playoffs and most important game for them will be next against Benetton on January, 8 when Chanak will back into the roster and O'Bannon will be adopted. Also for this game the only goal for bulgarian team is not to lose by more than 44 points.

And for Artland it is very important to win this game because they have 2 hard away games against Benetton and Riga where home teams will be supermotivated for a win. Also it would be  very hard to win against Kiev at home in last round. So this game is very important for Artland because this is a chance to qualify into next round as one of best 4th teams (looks like 5 wins should be enough for this).

So really big game awaits us in Artland I prefer to back more prepared and motivated side here.

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